"I had a hard time because of the cold" - Juan Ayuso not at his best but safely maintains Tirreno-Adriatco overall lead

Juan Ayuso is still leader at Tirreno Adriatico after finishing in the leading group on a complicated stage full of mountain passes in which the cyclists had very bad weather, with cold and rain to deal with.

The UAE Team Emirates leader in the race of the two seas made it clear that the important thing on a day like this was to get to the finish line healthy. He explained that the team's tactic was to leave a prudent distance to the escapees and that he did not have a good time during the stage due to the cold. Still, he maintains the 22-second gap to Jonas Vingegaard in the overall.

"The important thing was to get to the finish line safely, without losing time with those in the general classification, and that's what happened. Normal. We would do it too, we kept it around 9-10 minutes so that it wouldn't get out of hand and then others could hunt if they wanted to. A bit dangerous. It was quite hard because of the rain and the cold, I had a hard time because of the cold above all. In the end there was a big fall and I pulled the brake."